


Curve Ball

by goodmorningvietnam666



Series: Batter Up! [3]
Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Iron Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Delicate Plot, Established Relationship, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Humour, M/M, Sarcasm, Sassy Peter, Sidekicks, Team-Ups, Tony Being Tony, Tony acts like a dad, he can call Coulson Phil now, he denies it a lot, he's pretty proud of that, showdowns, solving problems with flaw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-03-29 10:25:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3892894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodmorningvietnam666/pseuds/goodmorningvietnam666
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buildings are disappearing, Norman Osborn is out of prison, the Bifrost is becoming unreliable, Clint Barton is in the Middle East and Nick Fury's in Washington.</p><p>Naturally, Tony is left as a last resort in New York. </p><p>With two huge masterplans in action, machinery to fix, and no way of taking a moment to think, Tony is finding it a little hard to cope. </p><p>Buildings are disappearing.</p><p>Why can't he figure that out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Begin With An Idea

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is sort of an extension of the Batter Up universe but readers should be fine with reading this as stand alone as it's Tony centric and only has the odd reference to the other series now and again.
> 
> Bear with me on this one - Tony's a complex character and if you find any glaring issues let me know so I can fix them!

On Manhattan Island there were 1.6 million people, 69 thousand buildings, 307,128 businesses and so far, seventeen buildings that had disappeared right in front of these 1.6 million people’s eyes. 

Only a year ago, New York had witnessed the arrest of Norman Osborn, had watched every news reporter badger Hawkeye of the Avengers about the attack Osborn had attempted, had watched as Tony Stark, playboy billionaire and New York’s golden boy, had laughed off the assassination attempt as though it were a badly played prank. 

Now instead of boring celebrity drivel and pointless articles about animals, every news channel was alight with the story of the vanishing buildings in Manhattan. People watched this story unravel and wondered where their heroes were now. 

_“Well Trisha, these buildings are not only disappearing but it is as if they never existed – there’s no pipe work, foundations… anything – it’s as though they’ve been cleansed from the very universe”_

_“In other news there have been no words from either SHIELD or the Avengers about the disappearance of seventeen buildings in New York, our reporters are still looking for truth as…”_

_“Lately Rob the only thing on everyone’s mind is these buildings disappearing… what’s all the fuss about really? I mean, Tony Stark takes out a group of models the day before their debut and no one bats an eye; maybe he has a thing for giant infrastructure?”_

_“Miss Romanoff! What is SHIELD doing to prevent these building disappearances?_  
I’m not at liberty to discuss the inner workings of SHIELD without either director’s  
permission.  
When can we speak to them then?  
You had one of them on the front cover of TIME only a few days ago – it shouldn’t be too hard to track him down” 

“Jeez, JARVIS are they all like this?” Tony Stark asked from where he was perched over the gauntlet of an Iron Man suit, hair in complete disarray. 

_**“I’m sorry sir?”** _

“In a state of panic”

_**“I’m afraid so sir”** _

Tony sighed and ran his free hand through his hair, returning to his task and picking between the wiring of the gauntlet with his tools, the edges of one wire sparking in response to his prodding “Conformity is beginning to make people stupid JARVIS: They need to realise that figuring out something like that will take a long time”

_**“It might take a shorter amount of time if you helped”** _

“Well, I know that”

_**“Of course you do sir”** _

“Don’t sass me…. I was going to say that while I can help – there are more important issues to attend to – Osborn is getting out of prison today: he’ll be out for revenge and considering that Clint’s off saving the Middle East his prime target is going to be me” he retaliated, a soft smirk on his lips. 

_**“Mr Osborn will be arriving at his building in ten minutes – if you wish to speak with him you could arrive in time if you leave now”** _

Tony sighed again, staring down the gauntlet in his sights and then casting his gaze towards the piles of torn down suits in front of him “I don’t know Jarv… Drawing attention to myself might be the wrong move here”

_**“It’s your decision sir, I can only give you options”** _

He hummed in reply, standing from the bench and holding up his right arm, flexing his hand and feeling the cool metal of a suit meet his fingertips, encasing his arm, shoulder, chest and body within its cool, protective confines before trailing down his legs and clamping around his feet. 

“At least we know the body tracking works” he said softly, trying to sound optimistic as the suit’s HUD lit up in front of him, running tests and showing numbers at a rapid rate. The workshop/garage door (a floor plan he’d chosen for every house he lived in) opened and he jetted out, climbing up into the air and cutting the jets when he neared the city’s rooftops, dropping again as low as he dared and speeding up, feeling the slight shift of air resistance against his shoulders. 

Times Square came into view and he banked right, skimming the edge of one building and climbing again, watching the swarm of reporters surrounding Osborn as he glided over the building and then descended before he could have second thoughts, allowing the suit encasing him to open up and allow him to step forward before encasing empty air and jetting back into the air. 

As he walked over to the group, he smoothed over his hair, hoping that it didn’t look as messy as it felt, and pasted on a press grin that he’d practised since he was thirteen – when he was told ‘smiling is the best way to avoid questions Tony: when you smile the press will leave you alone’

The reporters tried to get his attention, but he chose to ignore them and headed straight for Osborn, grin still on his face “Hey Norman, how was prison? Get any ink?” he greeted with mock interest, the grin turning smug and taunting with ease.

“Mind your tone Stark – I still have people who can end you: I know your bodyguard isn’t around to watch your back” Osborn growled, his own smile faltering slightly. Tony’s didn’t however, even though he knew that the words were a threat – ‘smiles hide what you don’t want people to see’

“I’d be terrified if I didn’t know a teenager could beat you with barely an effort” he replied, still with a smile, bringing his hand up for the other man to shake it, squeezing tightly “Bring it on”

He turned from the other businessman and almost ran head on into the reporters behind him, taking a step back to distance himself from them. 

“Mr Stark! What steps are you taking to try and stop the disappearance of buildings?!” one asked, voice louder than the rest, and the group near him fell silent, clearly all asking the same question. 

The poster boy smile fell back into place with practised ease “Myself, Director Fury, SHIELD and the Avengers are all taking deliberate and informed steps to both discover the cause of the disappearances and to stop it from happening again. SHIELD is aware of the housing problems and is working with the government as we speak to try and aid the community with this issue. We’re doing everything we can with the resources we have” Now that the group was silent, he smiled a little wider, nodded, and joined his suit as it landed nearby, stepping into it and waiting for it to encase him once more before jetting off and climbing into the sky, evening out in line with lower rooftops and lowering the intensity of the jets in order to cruise over the city slowly. 

He flew near the sites of the long gone buildings, running short scans before moving on to the next one, stopping at the last to try and find a similarity between them. He stood atop a flat rooved business building, reading over the scans and his brow furrowed when nothing of note showed itself to him. He ran across the scans again and found nothing… again. 

“So you’re checking these things out too?”

He looked up at the call and found Spiderman standing next to him, his arms folded as he gazed out at the site of a building disappearance. 

“Yeah” he answered “People are getting nervous – I don’t want chaos to overtake order: not while Fury’s in DC”

“I hear you” the young hero replied, glancing his way “When people get panicked villains are harder to catch”

He hummed in agreement and messed with the scans again, coming up with nothing once more “You going to watch Osborn too?”

“Yeah – I don’t trust him – he’s dangerous – look what he did to Hawkeye that was pretty scary” Spiderman answered and his shoulders tensed for a moment before he relaxed again “I was surprised he didn’t kill Norman to be honest with you”

Tony was silent for a moment, thinking the event over – how determined Clint had been, how quiet and how ruthless – he had been scared of that too, of the disruption of peace, but had been pleasantly surprised “He saw something in him – he always does in the end”

“Knowing a guy that intense… that attuned… what’s it like?”

Tony smiled beneath his visor, memories of first meetings and then two years with Hawkeye – The World’s Greatest Marksman “Enlightening” he said, settling on the word after a moment “He’s sees so much out of so little – it’s amazing to watch”

“I’ll bet” Spiderman replied, the tone sounding a little bitter. 

“Regretting your decision?” he asked, turning his upper body to face the younger hero, watching him carefully.

“Nah” he replied simply “I know where I’m needed and maybe, when I’m older, I’ll join and be better for it”

“Smart move” Tony praised, thinking on his next words carefully “You know, I wouldn’t mind the distraction, if you’re ever in over your head, give me a call?”

“You know I always do Tony – first in my contacts – the second is 911”

He chuckled softly “Take care of yourself Web Head” he farewelled, stepping off the building and hovering in the thin air, waiting for a reply.

“I will” Spiderman assured, leaping off the building, using Tony’s shoulder as a spring pad and swinging off in the direction of Times Square. 

He smiled, watching the young hero go before jetting off in the opposite direction:  
home.


	2. Build On It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided on weekly updates so keep an eye out for new posts!  
> Thank you to everyone who has read the first chapter, 200 hits helped to motivate me to keep posting!

He woke the next morning and his mind felt blurry, as though he couldn’t quite figure out what was going on at this very moment, and he stumbled slightly as he exited his room and padded barefoot into his kitchen, pulling at the shirt he was wearing so that it sat comfortably on his shoulders. He yawned through a request to turn on the news and poured himself a coffee, perching himself on a chair, saddling it backwards and watching the screen intently. 

_“It seems whoever is responsible for these building disappearances no longer wants anyone around to see it – security footage caught the building vanishing late last night just like all the others – but why the secrecy? What is the reason for these disappearances?”_

He turned it off at that, tired of the same story, the same pressure that he was under – he needed a distraction: he needed work. 

Dressing down in jeans and a two-layered sleeved shirt, he entered his workshop, turned up music and stared down the pile of destroyed Iron Man suits, their parts all scattered about and torn apart. It was his doing: he didn’t like them. Sometimes, when having an idea, it would begin with promise, but reality soon enough revealed that the idea was not a practical one, and it would stop. Sure, this was more than one failure, but failures helped narrow the paths to take to success: so he told himself. 

He was trying to come up with a suit that could win a fight with Captain America but was having zero luck on designing something that practical. He’d build up the outer shell to sustain damage but would sacrifice manoeuvrability and vice versa, ideas sprung up and were knocked down soon after and while it was stressful, it was nothing compared to the buildings that were vanishing. 

As he drew up a new plan his mind wandered, dwelling on the possible solutions to the problem of the buildings and he growled, pulling himself from the thought stubbornly. 

Once something caught his attention – he’d give it ten-fold of that, 110% until he had taken it apart, built it back up, and knew it from every possible angle – he’d never let himself forget about it and it was why people asked him to help: he’d put in an insurmountable amount of effort until he had satisfied only himself. 

And he was a tough critic. 

Nothing was ever right unless it was 100% right, no doubts or second guesses – correct, accurate, and infallible – it had to be perfect. He knew exactly who had pushed this perfectionism into him but chose to call it a gift, something to keep him alert and interested. 

He shook himself from his thoughts, sighing as he did so, he was a perfectionist but he was so easily distracted by little things, big things, people, events… even his own thoughts provided stimuli to keep him busy. 

“JARVIS, this building thing, the scans showed nothing alien or otherwise… that’s means it’s human… has this ever actually happened before?” he asked, voicing his thoughts more than anything. 

_**“No sir, not even a similar situation – have you considered super villainy?”**_

“No” he answered truthfully “I assumed some sort of linear phenomena or space time inconsistency was responsible”

_**“You read too much science fiction sir”** _

“Don’t think I don’t know you got that from Clint” he retorted with a smirk “And I quite enjoy sci-fi – it gives me ideas” he fell silent then and sorted through every villain he knew or had heard of, and could not pin down any that had the ability to make buildings simply vanish. 

His phone (hero emergencies phone – he had more than one) rang and he leapt about five feet in the air, answering it after a moment to collect himself “Go ahead, this is Iron Man”

“Hey, Tony, it’s Spiderman – you need to check this out”

///

He arrived exactly two minutes after the call and meet Spiderman at Times Square, hovering next to the lamp post he was crouched down on and followed his line of vision to the problem. 

On the ground were machines that bore resemblance to giant wasps, long stingers and metal wings to accompany the bug-like similarities and traffic light green eyes. He watched as three landed on a parked car and in a matter of moments the car fell apart, casing, wheels and all falling to the ground, leaving only the metal skeleton to remain, several then flew to a screen on a building and swarmed over it, the screen going black and then, surprisingly, the power was physically drained from it, seeping into the wasp-machines. Once the energy had dissipated, the wasps grew slightly in size. 

“Osborn?” he asked softly, readying himself for a fight. 

“Pretty sure” Spiderman replied “I haven’t gotten close enough to check but it looks like the usual tech theft that he goes through weekly”

“Well” he replied “let’s find out” he then rocketed up to their level and jetted towards them. 

They turned on him, and a metallic buzzing sounded, the seven that had been on the screen now headed straight for him, he fired off a few blasts, to act as warning shots, and was shocked when the blue energy became string like and was consumed by each machine. 

They shuddered for a moment, and then grew, all the while continuing to shudder minutely. 

He swore under his breath and led them up into the air, trying to crush them with the pressure of the atmosphere, and then dove when they began gaining on him, their smaller forms providing less wind resistance. The ground came into view and he almost lost control of the dive when one of the machines landed on him, stripping his left arm of armour before moving to his left leg. He spun then, the other machines swarming his suit until there was nothing left of it and his stomach dropped because now he was free falling, cold wind seeping through his clothes. 

He took a slow, deliberate breath and pulled a red and gold pen from his jeans pocket, whispering “Please work” before clicking it deliberately. The pen expanded fast, encasing his hand and then covering his body in a streamlined, form fitting suit and the jets started almost immediately, giving time to straighten up before hitting the ground and land shakily next to Spiderman, looking around for the wasp-machines. 

“That… was cool” Spiderman began, a smile clear in his voice “They fled, but not before they grew again”

“They feed off of energy, power helps them grow” he replied, breath light from the small dose of fear he’d been given “I just gave them a self-sustainable energy source – they’re going to keep growing for fifty lifetimes”

“Nice one” the younger hero said sarcastically “I think they’re Osborn’s: there was something about those eyes that screamed ‘Green Goblin’”

He chuckled, but the smile fell almost immediately “I think the buildings can wait – let’s pay Osborn a quick visit”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure he’ll love us dropping in without invitation” Spiderman replied, rolling his shoulders in preparation of movement. 

“Don’t worry – I have a small army back at home – I’ll bring one as back up and have the others on standby” he replied, starting his jets and requesting a drone suit using his HUD, joining it in the sky and watching Spiderman follow.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the anticipation of a fight Tony couldn’t help but be proud of himself: the new suit had worked perfectly and was working perfectly. Another was flying a metre or so above him and to the right, waiting for attack or defence when directed by his own HUD – he didn’t want to be a blood splat on the road or come remotely close to that.   
Spiderman was to his left, leaping from buildings and lampposts and swinging roof to roof, flipping, twisting and running along the walls of buildings in order to keep up with his flight speed. 

Osborn’s building came into view and he shared a look with the younger hero, accessing the building schematics and noting the sewerage pipe leading to an underground facility. He came as close as he dared to Spiderman and created a holographic version of it mid-air and showed the facility to him. 

“Oh, yeah, that’s the Goblin’s “secret lair” it’s where he’d keep them for sure” he replied, creating quotations with his fingers while mid-air “let’s check it out”

He tried not to groan at the thought of the underground and quelled the fear that filled him at the idea of darkness and closed spaces. He dove when they neared the Oscorp building and blasted open the piping entrance, landing in the sewers, impact causing water to splatter and create ripples in the flowing liquid. His second suit followed him in, landing by his side and awaiting orders and Spiderman was right behind them, sticking to the wall. 

“What?” the young hero said “I’m in lycra Tony – it gets soaked and I don’t want to stink when I get home”

“I just don’t care” he replied, stomping in order to push his partner further up the wall to avoid the water “missions with the Avengers have led me to way grosser places”

Spiderman didn’t reply, instead led the way down the tunnel, the suits lighting the way with a soft bluish glow. He brought up the schematics again to assure himself and took a bracing breath, casting light down the tunnel with a silent blast, watching it travel on forever until it vanished from view. 

“Gross how?” Spiderman asked, filling in the blank silence. 

“Oh I don’t know” he replied, turning left down one pipe and noting the darkness, flicking on the torch on the suit to his right “Swamps, underground hives, rooms full of blood… adult stuff”

“Hey, I’m nearly an adult you know – and we’re friends”

“You’re also not my kid and if I scarred you I could never forgive myself” he retorted, the honesty shocking himself into silence. 

Thankfully it appeared intended because light became visible and they stepped into a pristine facility, the sewerage water they had been treading in was pouring down another drain and away from the hideaway. The machines were there, shut down as indicated by their dulled eyes, bodies still trembling and growing every now and again. 

“They’re huge” Spiderman whispered beside him, as though speaking too loudly would wake them “What did you do?”

“Hey” he chided half-heartedly, letting the suit encasing him fold down into its pen state and dragging his other suit over with him to the machines, directing a scan and heading straight for the consoles in the room, sitting down at the desk and hacking in seamlessly. 

In the background he heard his partner exploring the area, touching this and that, making the odd noise in response to something interesting or puzzling, and used it as a soundtrack for his work, something to keep him alert. 

He broke through the firewalls and simply inserted a drive to copy all of its files for later reference, standing and joining his suit at the machines, giving it a guiding tap as it reached forward to touch a “wasp” and making a chiding noise. 

“Tony you have no idea how trippy that is” Spiderman commented, a smile in his voice “It’s like there’s suddenly two of you in the same place”

“That’s a scary thought” he joked with a grin, eyes focused on the scan offered to him, gaze darting across it seamlessly “He took someone’s tech – that much is clear – and my own tech is helping to fuel its growth and has given it a boost” 

“So, how do we stop them?” his partner asked, sitting next to him, back facing the machines “Energy pulses only make it stronger and they don’t seem flimsy enough to break apart”

“Osborn’s smart and you’re right – they can’t be torn apart – he’s deliberately left out any way to stop them once they’re turned on… this is tricky: we don’t want to help him but…”

“We can’t just leave them to destroy New York” Spiderman finished for him. 

They both fell silent and Tony couldn’t stand still: he started pacing back and forth, muttering under his breath every now and then, fiddling with his sleeves, removing the drive in the computer once it had finished and pacing again, quicker this time.   
At almost the same time, maybe a second behind one another, they both exclaimed “I’ve got it!”

“Oh Tony if you’re thinking what I am and I hope you are I’m adopting you!” Spiderman added, a smile clear through the mask on his face. 

Tony laughed and shook his head “I don’t know if that’ll work out but these machines clearly respond to an electric frequency: just like every machine”

“So if we figure out the frequency we can shut them down no problem: man I love working with you!!” his partner finished with a laugh “I don’t feel so nerdy anymore”

“Please you feel nerdy – I’m on a team of nineties kids barring Bruce Banner who didn’t leave his room during his childhood, Thor who’s a demigod so pop-culture escapes him anyway and Steve who grew up in the thirties or sometime around there” he replied with a grin, unfolding the suit and stepping into it “Half of them don’t care about Back to the Future and the other half don’t know what it is”

“You two?!”

They both glanced up and Tony couldn’t help but feel that familiar guilt of being caught doing something he shouldn’t: the Green Goblin had discovered them. 

“Come on Norman! Why these bug things?! You just _got out_ of prison!” Spiderman replied, sounding exasperated rather than fearful or worried: clearly they’d been fighting each other for far too long. 

Osborn refused to acknowledge his adversary and instead activated the wasps that were resting nearby. Tony sighed in exasperation and got both himself and the other suit into the air, nimbly dodging a missile and sending a blast to explode it safely as it rounded on him again: heat seeking. 

Dodging and ducking only worked for both himself, his suit and Spiderman for a little amount of time, and when a bomb knocked his partner to the floor Tony decided that it was time he made a retreat and picked the young hero up, programming his suit to provide cover as they escaped and weaving through steel hallways until finally they broke out from underground and into the streets. 

He swept out his arms in a wordless command for citizens to keep back and switched HUDs so that he could see through the eyes of his back up suit. 

Those machines were continuing to grow bigger, one latched onto its arm and dismantled it, the suit ignored this and made an escape as Tony commanded, pushing through the swarm and breaking through the sidewalk onto the street, one good arm covered in missiles ready for an attack. 

“Stand down” he requested softly, watching as it simply stood then, ready for orders and turned to Spiderman “You okay?”

“Yeah, fine – my head’s killing me but whatever… he did a number on your suit though”

He glanced at the suit missing an arm, then waved a dismissive hand “Whatever, I can rebuild, you need a hand?”

“I’m good” the younger hero replied, standing and holding a hand to his head for a moment before pulling it away. 

He didn’t reply, because those wasps were back and swarming his other suit – to avoid giving them more power he switched its primary weapons from repulsors to missiles and hand-to-hand combat. 

Spiderman ensnared one and Tony cleared the area of civilians by drawing a line in the asphalt and concrete beneath him “Don’t cross that – you’ll get hurt” Sure, it wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t Captain America. He swooped back into the battle, grabbing one of the Wasps off of his suit and blasting off its wings, then its legs with a powerful missile before opening its head case with another and fiddling with the wiring.

“Mess with my tech will you?” he murmured to himself when he recognised his own technology, and continued rewiring the machine “Makes this easier for me – fly my pretty”

Now, instead of the wings keeping it afloat, it was propelled by small clipped on jets and it shuddered, grew, then attacked its comrades, making short work of them and adjusting their wiring as he had, their attacks stopping instantly as they hovered over his other suit – which was in pieces that he knew he couldn’t piece back together. 

Spiderman had covered the wasp he’d grabbed in webs and as Tony landed, he came to stand next to him. 

Without a word, Tony shut down all but one of the machines, directing the other to him, the machine sticking close to his shoulder “That was too easy – even for Osborn – something’s up”

“Yeah – usually his stolen tech is a little trickier to take down – I thought we had something on the frequency thing but you rewired them in seconds”

“Well” he replied “It’s my tech – I’m surprised he got hold of it actually – come on”

As he led the way back home, he couldn’t help but be afraid for what he might discover.


	4. Chapter 4

“You know – you didn’t seem too worried about Osborn having your tech”

Tony smirked, pulling his eyes from the Wasp in front of him “Should I start regretting giving you a key? Are you going to invite your teenage friends over for parties?”  
Peter Parker – AKA Spiderman – laughed, running a hand over the bonnet of one of his sport cars “Nah, you can trust me – I’m cool with not having parties and just tagging along to Harry’s… you didn’t answer my question”

“I’m not really scared of other people having my tech, it’s myself I worry for” he replied, smile fading at his own words – it was true. 

Other people could exploit his genius and his technology until they grew old and tired and never improve on it… himself however, if he let himself start exploiting his technology, he knew that a darker part of himself could have the world at their knees in mere days. Other people didn’t have the vision to push his tech that far, and for that he was glad. 

“Okay” Parker was now across from him, leaning his forearms on the bench “What have you got?”

“Please tell me you actually did school work today?” he replied, watching a sheepish look pass over the youth’s face “Do you have homework? You should do that” he said in reply, returning to his own task. 

Parker groaned “How you are this cool when act like such a dad is beyond me” he asked rhetorically, actually obeying Tony’s command, much to his surprise. 

He watched the boy for a moment, hands hovering over his work, before he cast his gaze down and resumed his task, mind racing. 

They fell silent. 

Tony found he couldn’t keep quiet any longer “You think I act like a dad?” he asked, feeling suddenly awkward and wishing he hadn’t spoken. 

Parker looked up at him with a smirk, the look strangely fond “Yeah – you’re seriously such a dad – you’ve got the jokes and everything”

He chuckled “That’s true… you done? I’ve got some ideas”

“I could be – it’s just Math – we can pretend I’m done”

He smirked, remembering his own younger years and the bane of homework, and joined his friend, murmuring instruction here and there, helping Parker along for roughly half an hour before they finished. 

“Just come and teach at the school please – Coulson would love me for it” Peter replied in a joking way, coming around to join Tony at the Wasp, the pair leaning over to look into its complex wiring.

“Nah” he chuckled “Phil and I don’t stay within one hundred metres of one another in case something or someone gets destroyed” he explained, picking through the wires gently. 

“Phil?! You’re on first name basis?!” Peter asked, eyebrows practically raising into his hair line

“Yeah, Hawkeye and I are dating – he’s kind of like the guy’s surrogate father – I call him Phil, he calls me menace, it’s a working relationship” he replied as though it was the simplest thing in the world to work out. 

“You and Hawkeye are dating? How come I never know about these things?”

“You’re not exactly number one on my contacts list Parker” he replied with a grin “Come on, focus”

“Yeah okay… just pretend I wasn’t just told ground breaking information” Parker replied sarcastically, than added in a subdued tone “Those buildings are still vanishing you know”

“One thing at I time – this thing I can solve now – the other thing well… it needs time and patience and right now I don’t have that… now, I’m thinking, given that this is my tech, that this should be relatively easy to get around – a bit of rewiring and bam! They work for me”

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ in the next sentence” Parker said softly

 _“However”_ he stressed “Osborn’s not an idiot – he’ll catch on, so the back-up plan is hitting them with this specific frequency” here he placed a red coloured cuff in Peter’s hand “That’s for your suit” 

He paused for a moment, revisiting his plans and ideas for a second time to ensure he hadn’t missed anything “We’re just going to have to be careful – Osborn is planning something to undermine one of us – If we stick together I think his job might be a little more difficult” He had never liked the aspect of working with people, always of the mind that when he was alone he was more efficient, but for this situation – he would admit that this time he couldn’t quite do this alone.   
Parker left soon after, bidding him goodnight and thanking him for the offer of a lift, having changed into his costume before leaving, and hoisted himself up into the sky. Tony re-entered his home, cooked and ate dinner, and spent the night reading as opposed to worrying himself about buildings and machines.   
He had a headache – his eyes stung and he wanted to forget about his responsibilities but instead he remained dutiful, mind drifting away from the words on the page in seconds. Another of his phones rang: SHIELD phone and he picked it up, staring down the caller ID before answering with reluctance.

“Stark, what’s up?” he began, searching for a pen and juggling it in his hand. 

_“It’s Fury, give me an update Stark – what’s happening in New York?”_

He sighed through his nose “Well, Osborn’s back to his old tricks again and those buildings are still disappearing”

_“You got anything on that yet?”_

He ran a hand through his hair, pulled at the locks firmly, trying to get his brain working as he stared at the book in front of him, hoping that the answer would just jump out at him like it did every other time he was stuck on something. He was overthinking, he knew that, but he couldn’t help but overthink – it was driving him nuts – he was the guy with all the answers, he was Tony Stark – boy genius turned scientific wonder – he should already know the answer to this.

“No… I don’t” he answered, dejected and sullen “I’m sorry”

 _“Stark… you okay?”_ Fury’s voice had taken on a concerned tone, and he couldn’t help but smile at the offer of sympathy. 

“I’m good Nick… just busy” replied, pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead and closing his eyes “Is the US Government co-operating yet?”

_“Yes, surprisingly – they’ve offered support until we figure this out due to our own help in the Middle East – I’d say Barton had something to do with that”_

Clint’s name reminded him of how quiet the house was without him, and he held back a sigh and smiled instead at the memory of funny, clever Clint Barton who’d accidentally stolen his heart. 

“I’ll bet” he replied “He kicks ass in America, why not the Middle East?”

Fury chuckled and hummed in agreement, and after a stagnant silence, they both said goodbye and Tony welcomed the silence of the house, listening to the pounding in his head. He wished he had the answer, so that he could be done with the headache it was giving him, but knew that it wasn’t going to be given to him on a silver platter. 

In his father's words: ‘Working for something means you know where it came from, which makes the result more reliable’


	5. Chapter 5

He swerved his car hard to avoid the mound of rubble that came tumbling his way, accelerated to get out of the way and stopped dead, glancing out the window of the car. 

“For god’s sake” he breathed, stepping out of the Aventador and slamming the door shut, pulling an Iron Man suit from the bonnet, letting it encase him and directing his attention to the Frost Giant currently in the middle of New York “One day is all I ask – one day”

He flew towards the giant, firing clean, blue coloured beams at the creature, watching as it stumbled back and directed its attention to him instead of civilians, he dove beneath the ice-axe swung at him and fired off several missiles, pushing the giant back towards the centre of the park, getting it as far away from people as possible, banking right to avoid a grab and blasting the opened hand, neatly swooping over another two swings and shooting at its eye, causing an earth-shaking roar. 

He miscalculated and a swing hit him in his stomach, sending him flying backwards mid-air, once he’d caught his breath he increased the strength of his jets, righted himself and charged back at the giant, neatly swooping around the jet of lightening from above and rolling his eyes: late – as usual. 

He found himself wishing for rope as he jetted between the creature’s legs to avoid another swipe and fired pulses up its back in retaliation. 

“You took your time Rapunzel” he called out to Thor, diving beneath another attempted swipe and taking the bolt of lightning directed towards him, sending half through his system and firing the rest at the giant’s chest, following through with a fully charged upper cut, climbing high out of the creature’s reach before diving back down and hovering near the demigod. 

“You looked as though you were handling it” Thor replied, a smug look on his face. 

He scoffed “Sure I did – you were late – I told you and your father that the Bifrost was acting funny – I even offered to help with it and that was four years ago”

“You know my father took offence – there is not much we can do if he will not listen” his teammate replied, ending the battle before returning to him “And if we were not so pressed for time maybe it would be easier to convince him – but it is not so” 

“Yeah” he answered, landing neatly and letting Thor join him “But I’m telling you: you’re going to lose out if that stops working and you both know it – something has to be done and I don’t care what but at least take some kind of action” he chided, ducking under the demigod’s arm and accepting the embrace “I’m worried” he admitted softly. 

“I know” Thor soothed, patting his shoulder “I’m sorry, I can’t stay – the Odinsleep is in two days – we’re running out of time”

“Go ahead” he replied, keeping the malice from his voice “Stay safe”

And with that, Thor and the giant were gone, the only evidence of their presence being the fallen trees and singed grass. He sighed for effect and returned to his car, getting back in and heading to work: he wished he could disappear like that sometimes – as though he was never there – but when he wished it wasn’t for long because he had responsibilities and they didn’t just go away. 

He knew he was harsh on his teammate, but they hadn’t seen Thor for roughly a year and Tony had worried himself stupid, thinking the god dead or injured only to discover that the Bifrost had not been attended to. It had set him off, mainly from concern, but all the same he was angry and frustrated but Thor hadn’t seemed hurt and he thanked the demigod for understanding how he reacted to various situations. 

He was lucky to have Thor as a friend really. 

Work started and ended the same way – slowly – sitting in traffic, Tony couldn’t help but dwell on the events of the morning and tugged at the tie around his neck. He rolled down his window and leaned his arm on the door, glancing down the long line of traffic and smiling at the woman in the car across from him, offering a wave. 

“Hey” he offered, charm replacing frustration “Nice day”

“Traffic isn’t helping, but sure, it is a nice day – Samantha – my friend’s call me Sam” she replied, a smile adding to her friendly answer. 

He grinned “Anthony – but everyone calls me Tony… so, long day?”

Samantha shrugged “Yeah but it’s over now – I can go home and rest, or you know, you could follow me home and I catch up on sleep later” he couldn’t see her eyes behind her sunglasses, but he imagined a look that was something along the lines of flirtatious.

He offered an apologetic smile “Sorry – I’m uh, I’m taken actually” his line started moving and he waved a goodbye, leaving her shocked, accelerating past the cars waiting for a turn off, weaving between openings and breaking dozens of speed laws to get home and breathing a sigh, contented and calm. Almost immediately he left the vehicle, put on a suit, followed by armour, and flew out into the open New York sky, getting high enough so that he could barely see past thick white clouds and breathing out loudly through his mouth, climbing higher, passing the helicarrier, and higher until his HUD reminded him of the atmosphere and he levelled out, cruising along the darkened sky, running a hand through a nearby cloud. 

His phone (personal) rang, and a caller ID showed up on his HUD. 

“So, how many notches are on your bow Sterling?” he greeted, listening intently through the noise on the other end. 

_“Too many actually – I can’t wait to get home”_

He grinned: he’d missed Clint like crazy while he’d been gone – hadn’t stopped thinking of him in his spare time – had missed the way that they understood one another so perfectly: they never needed to tell each other what was wrong – they both already knew “When is that anyway?”

_“Maybe a month? I don’t know, all I do know is that Fury’s pulling me out early – two months early – it’s strange”_ Clint replied, his tone reading suspicious. 

“It’s probably a numbers thing: there’s a lot going on back here – maybe he needs your keen skills of observation” Tony replied, trying to quell his suspicions

_“Yeah, I know, but there’s a lot going on out here too Tony – I’ve seen so much turmoil that I’m not sure I want to leave these people: they’re suffering… it’s pretty hard to forget”_

“Yeah” he agreed “You okay? You sound strained” 

_“I’m good, don’t you worry about me – I’m just wounded – worry about you, you sleeping?”_ Clint countered and Tony smiled at the familiarity of the nagging. 

“Yeah I’m sleeping – I’m being good and I’m playing nice and you’re a nagger and I don’t know how I signed onto that” he replied, a smile tugging at his lips. 

_“Shut up”_ Clint said, the fondness in his voice telling him that it wasn’t malicious _“I gotta go, but I’ll see you soon – I love you”_

“Yeah I love you too” he replied, grin widening until it hurt his cheeks as he hung up. 

He cut his jets and let himself dive, feeling the wind against his body and the pressure around the suit gain slightly as he neared the ground. At the last safe moment, he pulled up, body almost touching the ground, and climbed to a decent height, slowing his jets so he could cruise once more. 

He stopped in his tracks when the building next to him disappeared and he jetted into the now open space, scanning it almost immediately and catching a specific energy signature: finally, a break - he cheered softly and jetted off in the opposite direction, mind racing with opportunity. 

Something solid and metal hit him that was about his size and bore humanoid shape, glowing green eyes causing a distortion in the colour of his suit. He broke free and backed away, shocked to discover that the force had been the suit the wasps had destroyed – and it was like it had never been touched. 

“Shit” he said, pivoting in the air and rocketing off, hearing the suit following behind at almost the same speed. 

He was lucky enough to have the smaller build and began pulling away, only to be halted by the hand grabbing his ankle and ripping him away from his ascent, throwing him backwards and sending him spinning. Tony cut his jets and righted himself, then propelled himself up and into the other suit, diving with its torso encased in his grip, knowing that the collision with the ground was going to hurt and changing course to Central Park, the two of them hitting the ground with a muted crunch of grass and dirt, rolling away from one another. 

His head spun and he sat up, pushing himself to his knees only to be gripped hard by the other suit, lifted up and tossed onto his back. He rolled to dodge the heavy punch aimed at his head and fired off two repulsors from his knees, getting to his feet and panting softly, watching the suits still form and smirking, standing properly and calling in one of his suits – he’d need help getting it home. 

He watched with muted surprise as the suit stirred and stood slowly, firing off shots of its own until it got to its feet. It ran to him and struck out, blocked by his arms and it tried again, blocked by his forearm. Tony thanked himself for asking Clint to train him – he’d be dead by now otherwise. It continued like that until he started to trade blows with the suit, directing the one that arrived to give him a hand and pushing it down until he could shut it down by hacking its controls and finding the source of it: Osborn’s hideaway. 

He called two more suits to bring the corrupted one home and headed back to the hideaway, day finally turning to night as he got back into the air, steering shaky and stiff from the crash to the ground. He made a mental note to repair the suit as he crashed into the facility, only then did he remember what he had said to Spiderman about sticking together. 

“You got some kind of problem with making your own tech Norman?” He asked, hovering near the entrance “By taking my tech, you think somehow I’m going to be out for revenge? I’m not afraid of you having my tech – you should be afraid of it”

Osborn’s smug look turned to horror, because on his sleepless nights (yes, he lied to Clint) he had worked on the wasps and turned them to do his bidding and now they swarmed in, taking apart his hideaway at a rapid rate “You don’t mess with me, or my team – I’ve seen your files Norman – the stuff I’ve got can put you in jail a lot longer than a year or so, you have chosen to fuck around with the wrong hero: try anything like this again I might not be as forgiving”

He turned and flew back, anger a small burn inside of him, home turned up quickly and as soon as he got there he dismantled the corrupted suit with a slow, deliberate pace. 

Osborn had taken his suit and had tried to take him down – what he had done was only the beginning of what he had originally wanted to do. 

He calmed his breathing and de-suited, sitting next to the still present pile of failures and kicking the nearest piece of metal, burying his face in his hands and sighing. 

“You okay Stark?”

He looked up at the call and shook his head at Natasha, burying his face again – how she had gotten inside he didn’t know, but he did know that her company wasn’t unwanted and he stood, walking over to her and letting her pull him into an embrace, a hand at the back of his neck and an arm encircling his shoulders. 

Natasha knew him almost as well as Clint – she and he had a past that they didn’t share but one that had brought them closer than he had ever been with a person: Natasha had opened him to love again – she knew where his head was and he was thankful that he knew her. 

He returned the embrace, wrapping his arms around her middle and letting his head fall to her shoulder, breathing in and then out heavily, feeling himself slump considerably.

“Rationalise your way through this” Natasha advised soothingly, her fingers carding through his hair. 

He breathed in again and nodded slowly “I’m just so tired of failing”

“You haven’t failed anyone Stark – sure, your methods for dealing with Osborn were unorthodox, but that doesn’t mean it was a failure: you’ve definitely scared him” Natasha replied gently “If Clint were here I’m sure he’d punch you for this – don’t let yourself fall back down again – you just got up”

“Yeah” he replied shakily before chuckling “Fury’s going to kill me”

“Probably” he could hear the smirk in her voice and squeezed her middle tightly, feeling an immense gratitude when she tightened her own hold “Come on – enough suits and villains – you’re taking me to dinner”

///

Natasha, he thought as he watched her across the table, looked stunning even when she was trying to kill people. She had opted for a long black dress with a low neckline and a slit on the right side of the garment, showing an incredible amount of one long, smooth leg. 

If he was single, and had no idea of who she was, he was sure he’d have skipped dinner. 

He himself he opted for a simple black suit and tie, in no mood to stand out. His hair wasn’t sitting properly but it never really did and his “date” had assured him he looked fine and he always did, why did he think so many people flirted with him? 

“So, you’re using me again – how does it feel?” he asked with a wry grin, the gesture turning real when Natasha scowled at him. 

The scowl didn’t last long, and instead she simply smiled at him “I didn’t really use you the first time – you seduced me you know” she replied, the smile turning friendlier the longer they looked at each other. 

“That’s not how I remember it happening” he replied in a playful tone, leaning across the table.

“You were pretty hammered Stark” She replied with a cock-sure grin “You’re going to scare off my target smiling like that”

“Like what?” He asked, cocking an eyebrow

“Smiling like you mean it, do you ever listen to my compliments?” Natasha answered with a shake of her head, leaning in as well.

“Not really” he replied truthfully “I expect compliments – everyone uses compliments” a waiter came to their table, and he ordered two scotches on the rocks, watching Natasha’s face take on a surprised look. 

“What no girly drink joke?” she asked, her smile returning. 

“Hey, come on – I’m not Clint”

They laughed at the archer’s expense, and one their drinks arrived they ordered and finally fell quiet. Tony cast his gaze out into the window and watched people walk past, at times snapping photos or getting overly excited but mostly just focused on where they were going. 

“I have to slap you” Natasha said softly, toying with the drink in her hand. 

“Don’t do it hard” he replied with a grin and a chuckle, turning back to his friend and leaning forward, taking one of her hands “I like my face”

Natasha smiled and placed down her drink, bringing that hand, still moist from the glass, to his face “I like it to” she replied, drawing back the hand and striking him, but not as hard as he had thought she would. 

“If he hurts you” Tony started when he noted Natasha’s target, and the rest of the restaurant, take interest.

“Now you’re acting like Clint” she smiled and squeezed his hand gently “Stay safe – don’t forget that we care”

“Thanks” he replied sincerely and then left without another word. 

Sure, Natasha had used him, but it was a reality check that had been long overdue: the anger and frustration had rolled away for some clarity and Tony couldn’t help but breathe a little easier after leaving the restaurant. 

When he got home, he scoffed when he found Thor inside, a pensive look on his handsome features. 

“Let me guess – your father wants help”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about this chapter, to me it kind of feels... eh....  
> anyway, hope you're enjoying the series!


	6. Chapter 6

The first time he had visited Asgard; he had admittedly gotten too excited about the other realm and hadn’t had the chance to talk to the people there. But now, standing a little behind Thor, face to face with Odin – whom he had offended the first time around – trying to avoid as much notice as possible, he wasn’t sure he wanted to talk to people anymore.

He retreated when the two gods began to grow terse with one another and left the hall, sitting on the edge of the castle and gazing out at the stars. 

He wondered what it would be like to get out there, to see something beyond the Earth, he wanted so badly to get out of his solar system and learn that he was starting to contemplate building a space suit. He smiled at the sky and leant back on his hands. 

“Anthony”

He looked up and smiled softly at Fandral – one god who he’d bothered to meet and get to know (on more than one level) – and gestured to the space beside him, watching him as he obeyed. 

“Been a while pretty boy” Tony greeted softly, offering another smile when Fandral chuckled. 

“That it has” he replied, his own eyes finding the stars “I think it won’t be long now – Odin needs help and he’s not entirely against you – you’ll be pushed head first into the Bifrost with no idea what to do with yourself”

“Ouch” he grinned “I think I know a little more than you think I do about your own technology” he informed, leaning away from Fandral as the god moved into his space “Also, I have a boyfriend”

He watched as Fandral studied him for a moment for he chuckled and shook his head “I’ve waited too long it seems”

“About two or three years too late” Tony agreed, glancing up when Thor joined them with a smile. 

The three of them sat together in silence for a brief moment, before Tony rose and stretched, feeling the joints in his back pop in response “Alright, I’ve got some work to do”

///

The Bifrost was confusing, and Tony spent most of the day looking at its inner workings and letting his mind run about a thousand different scenarios. Now he was literally waist deep in the machine, tinkering with this and that, moving this wire here and that one there, adjusting this, fixing that; hoping something would reveal itself to him. He was good with machines: they had a way of calming him because machines could be fixed with time and logic, unlike people or even problems: those things were harder to solve and harder to rationalise. 

He started humming the lyrics to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ as he worked, clamping a tool in his mouth and taking another from the kit given to him. 

“Okay, what is ailing you?” he said after the machine shocked him and he almost fell into it “I can’t help you unless you help me” 

“You’re talking to it?”

He recognised the voice after a moment and chuckled “Reindeer Games: long time no see – yes I’m talking to it – we have a bond”

“You will have a very tangible one soon if you keep tinkering with it like that”

“Don’t lecture me – I know what I’m doing” he retorted, flinching and almost falling into the machine when a shock rode up his arm, his fall was halted by arms wrapping around his legs and anchoring him. 

“I can see that” Loki replied in a sarcastic tone and Tony felt him adjust his grip “What’s it look like?”

“Incredible” Tony answered softly “It’s the most intricate technology I’ve ever seen – I mean, I kind of want to break it and take it home and build it again but… so far it looks like an easy fix – it’ll take roughly two days”

Silence fell and Tony continued to work, comforted by the weight around his legs keeping him stable. He could feel it in the air – Loki was stunned at how he was acting but truth be told Tony understood the young god and had seen a part of himself in him. He had sympathised – his own father had shaped and moulded him too and he knew what it was like trying to escape all of those expectations and how hard it was not to come out broken. 

“How’s Hawkeye?” Loki asked suddenly, his question soft and tentative. 

“He’s… good” Tony decided, nodding to himself “I’m not sure that he’s mad at you so much as just mad at himself but right now… he’s good” he paused for a moment, mulling over his answer, and then asked “How about you? How are you?”

“Much better… Thor and I have talked recently and it’s helped put things in perspective: I don’t want to fight anymore” Loki answered, words sincere. 

Tony nodded, then, realising Loki wouldn’t see the gesture, he spoke “I’m glad – though I will miss our quips” they shared a laugh and returned to silence soon enough. 

///

He worked on the Bifrost for three days and finally, after testing it about a thousand times, the machine began working again and Tony breathed out a satisfied sigh: knowing he could go home now without risk of jumping into another realm or turning up five years later. 

He had been surprised by the people who had turned up to see him off – Odin had thanked him, and though it had sounded insincere he accepted the gratitude anyway; Loki had smiled at his outstretched hand and had pulled him in for a firm embrace and Tony knew this was both a thank you and a farewell so he squeezed back gently and couldn’t help but smile. Fandral had tried for indifference, but had pulled him in for a tight hug before he could even say a word; Thor was smiling when he joined him and once they had entered the Bifrost he had wrapped a strong arm around his shoulders. 

“Thank you Tony” he had said softly, voice a low rumble in his chest.

“Hey, no problem: I love fixing things” he had replied. 

They had arrived on Earth and Tony made a soft groan of disappointment. 

“Seriously? Three days?” he said to himself, Thor having disappeared seconds after arriving: the Odinsleep was tomorrow. 

Chaos was laid out in front of him; Osborn created suits and wasps careening about New York – absolute chaos. 

He felt his fists clench along with his jaw and he pulled his pen from his suit jacket, letting it unfold onto his body and then calling upon his own suit army. 

“Wrong move Osborn” he said softly, the anger and frustration he had forgotten about while in Asgard rising up to meet him, joining him like his many suits as he watched the anarchy around him.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony Stark was indeed a reasonable man. He was willing to listen to the ideals of the people around him, regardless of the irrelevance of their opinions when it concerned his inventions or his lifestyle choices. But, when people such as Norman Osborn, business man and villain, came to his city and dirtied his tech with unclean hands then he became unreasonable. Rage was something familiar to him, but it was never a welcome emotion and he tried to quell it and think clearly but before he had the chance to he was sending his army of suits forward, powering into the fray and ducking around shots fired at him. 

Over the anger, a thought rationalised that he should work on looking for civilians and saving them first. He broke from his own army and swooped into the nearby buildings, clearing them fast in order to avoid causalities then helping those on the streets get a safe distance. 

“Phil, I know you’re up there watching this” he said, hacking into SHIELD’s channel “I need a containment field now”

Without any response a blue dome, built for holding back technology or keeping it in, surrounded a large area of the city and Tony nodded to himself before continuing “Don’t get anyone involved unless its evacuation okay?”

_“You’ve got my support Stark – I’m watching”_ Phil Coulson replied, calm and kind. 

He didn’t reply, instead landed and let the suit on him fold away, tucking it back into his jacket before flexing his wrists and feeling a different suit lock onto him, fitting around him and propelling him into the air. 

He banked around a green laser aimed towards him and twisted mid-air, firing off two missiles in the droid’s (he refused to ever call them suits – they weren’t his and he wouldn’t be told otherwise) direction, accelerating and reaching the top of the dome, directing two suits nearby to the group of Wasps causing a bigger suit of his trouble then he himself dove and aligned himself with another suit, placing a charge on its back and letting it speed on into a swarm of Wasps.

“Sorry” he whispered as it blew up, taking the machines with it. 

A droid charged into him, gripping him hard around the waist and throwing him to the ground, stamping down on his chest before he could stand. 

“Really?” He asked rhetorically, charging and firing a unibeam and watching the droid shoot into the air before standing and dusting himself off “Didn’t think so”

It didn’t take long for the droids to pick out the only human in their presence and soon a trio of them were surrounding him. He stayed on the ground, not keen to fall from any distance yet, and continued this way until slowly the droids forced him into the air. He blocked one’s attack and dodged another, causing said attack to destroy the third. 

“Hey Mark 14, go help 10!” He ordered when he found a suit circling his own battle and watching it go before focusing again. 

He was, if he had taken the steps to calculate it (he had) about a millisecond late and he hit the ground hard, restrained by a heavy foot on his right forearm and a different one on his left. He struggled, about to add his thrusters to the attempt, but froze when two arrows, each identical in colour, hit the temples of each droid and then exploded. 

He didn’t pause and got back into the air, barely bothering to flinch when weight became present on his back and the magnets on the suit’s back activated, a different set of vitals showing up on his HUD. 

“Honey” he greeted “You look well”

“I left you alone for what? A few months? A year?” Hawkeye replied, leaping from his suit to another with the grace of an acrobat “You’re worse than I am”

Tony chuckled and blasted open two droids, counting twenty remaining “It’s all Osborn’s fault – he stole my toys”

He didn’t get a reply because Clint had been tackled hard by a droid, but his quick thinking resulted in it exploding. Tony looped around and dove low, catching the archer’s arm and pulling him up with ease, banking right and firing off three missiles in the direction of four droids – the fourth was eliminated by a succession of arrows in the joints that exploded after a second “Also – your broken bones tally is higher than mine so there”

“You’re arguing with me about the trouble you get into?” Clint retorted in clear disbelief “How on Earth did you get me to date you?”

“You know Clint – I really don’t know – my charm?” he replied, letting the archer free of the magnets so he could leap to the closest building and take out the Wasps currently attacking MK10 before leaping back onto his own suit. 

“Nope – I never said you were charming”

“Looks?” he ventured, rolling to the left to avoid a tackle and responding with a missile.

“Can’t be just that – I’m not all about aesthetics”

“Sex?”

“Stark”

He chuckled “True: we’re not there yet” he admitted, watching his suits finish off the remainder of the droids and Wasps and landing on the closest roof, dropping his visor and pulling Clint in tight, crushing their lips together and slamming his eyes shut tight. 

He got a soft noise of surprise out of the archer before gloved hands fell on his shoulders, pulling him closer all the while “Missed you”

Clint smiled and Tony knew what the next words were going to be before his boyfriend spoke “I never miss”

He chuckled all the same at the tired line “Is Phil mad?”

He watched as Clint seemed to think for a moment, watching the other suits clean up the damage of the battle “Nah, I think you’ve actually earned his respect – he sounded worried” a smile formed in place of the thoughtful look when Tony wrapped an arm around his waist firmly “So, you need help with Osborn?”

“I’m… not sure?” he replied, shrugging at Clint’s glare “I thought I was handling it with Spidey but um, well this happened while I was in Asgard and… Shit where’s Spiderman?!” he leapt away from the archer, scaring the taller man into flinching. 

“Osborn’s probably got him – get something quiet and meet me at Oscorp in ten minutes” Clint replied, all business again. 

He nodded and jetted off in the direction of home, trying to quell his excitement at his boyfriend being home and safe as he searched for the suit he owned that was specified for stealth and shooting out of the house in the span of a minute – the jets of this suit making no sound this time – his journey deathly silent as he met Clint near the building and stood beside him for a long moment in silence. 

“You know I’ve been thinking” Clint said softly, an arrow set on the string of his bow and clasped between two fingers “you and me get into a lot of trouble when we’re alone”

“So you’re saying we’re going to get into double that today? Yeah I thought that too” he replied, beginning to move off and stopping at the hand that fell on his shoulder, looking back curiously.

“I’m trying to talk here” Clint chided, a concerned look on his face “My kind of trouble results in broken bones and blood spilt but you… Tony whenever you get into trouble I watch you and you break down so if we’re going into this together… what kind of trouble are we about to get into?”

He smiled and lifted his visor to display it, pressing a hand to his boyfriend’s shoulder “The kind that we’ll face together – let’s go”

They entered the building and Tony couldn’t help but be slightly in awe of the silent way his partner did things, knocking out guards and creating a path with his footsteps making no sound despite his speed and strength. He himself had accessed the building’s security centres and they were within the Green Goblin’s hideaway in seconds, staring down at the huge facility that was currently crawling with stolen tech. 

Hawkeye (it wouldn’t do well to call him Clint now) tapped his shoulder and pointed left, he himself moving right after a pause followed by a leap across the gap between surfaces. 

He refrained from the low whistle of approval he wanted to elicit and instead took to the air silently; scanning the place for signs of human life and after only moments he had found where Spiderman was being held. He only signalled to the archer before moving to find him, and let a sigh of relief pass his lips when he found the young hero and as he loosened the bonds he brought a hand up to Parker’s mouth to silence whatever question was about to be asked. 

“We don’t have the strength, or the numbers, to fight right now” he explained in a hushed tone as he helped the young hero to stand “We’re going to leave by the sewers and come back later to put this guy away”

Spiderman nodded in understanding, and before they could walk silently out of the hidden chamber, the sound of an explosion went off in the main area.   
Tony heard Clint swear. 

He tried not to panic as they rushed to the archer’s aid, who it appeared had been discovered and had tried to neutralise the droid quietly only to have it blow up in his face: literally. 

“Good to see you’ve still got that inability to avoid danger” Tony noted as he reached his partner’s side, watching as every machine in the building came to life.

“What can I say? Trouble follows me and danger is my best friend” Hawkeye replied, four arrows ready and knocked all at once “We can’t win this… where’s the exit?”

“Across the room – there’s a concealed tunnel I can blast open – we’re going to have to be quick” he answered, watching Spiderman out of the corner of his eye, who looked to be gearing up for a fight “You good?”

“I am” the younger hero answered “Fighting alongside Hawkeye and Iron Man – I can handle it” 

He sent projectiles to the concealed exit and at almost the same time he and Clint dove into the fray, swerving around droids and ducking wasps without a hint of hesitation. He could have flown over but didn’t want to risk his partner’s safety for an easy way around. 

“So um, how are you?” he asked, the thought simply coming to him as they neared the concealed exit that was no longer hidden thanks to his missiles. 

“Tony I’d love to do this whole ‘catch up on everything’ conversation but right now” Clint paused to leap over the two punches aimed his way and landing outside of the fray “is not the best time”

“Yeah okay then – but you have to promise you’ll share” he pressed as they entered the tunnels.

“You know, I live with you – it’s not like I’m disappearing again”

“Not now, but later you will”

“Tony”

“Dear”

“Guys can you get a room?” Spiderman cut in, standing at the sewer exit with an impatient air surrounding him “It’s awful down here”

He chuckled and took a step away from Clint and nodded, following the younger hero out of the dark domain “Sorry about that”

“No it’s fine with me Tony it’s just… time and place you know?”

He heard Clint make a noise of agreement behind him and made his own noise of protest “I know that” he urged, turning to Clint and allowing his arm to snake around his own waist. 

“Sure” his partner answered, turning his head towards him “Regroup?”

Spiderman was nodding to this adamantly “Regroup – definitely – I stink”

He and Clint chuckled in unison, and despite the fact that they were slightly overwhelmed, he couldn’t wait to get home.


	8. Chapter 8

“How about” he looked up at Clint’s voice and made a noise of protest when the tablet in his hand was taken from him and replaced with two warm hands “You stop this” Clint continued, turning his chair around so they were facing each other “And you come to bed?” he finished with a chaste kiss, leaning back to gage a response. 

Tony smiled softly, sheepishly, and nodded, standing and accepting the embrace he was pulled into “Okay” he agreed softly, feeling his shoulders slump as he fitted himself to his partner. 

They left the workshop joint at the hip and he couldn’t help but cast his worries aside: Clint was home. He had found a person who could wash all of his worry away by simply being around and at the thought he grinned, glad he’d taken the chance a year ago to get closer to the archer and glad that after a long moment of indecision, Clint had wanted to be closer to him. 

“You’re limping” he noted as they lay down, casting his gaze on the injured leg and noting the bandage. 

“Yeah, I’m limping – I’m okay Tony – it doesn’t hurt anymore” he smiled in response at the fact that Clint simply knew what he was thinking without any effort “Can we sleep now?”

“Is that the only thing on your mind? It seems like the only thing you think about” he replied with a smile, sliding a hand down a well-muscled chest, stopping the action to rest at a hip, stroking the bone with his thumb. 

“Nah, I think of you too and if I’m on a mission it’s pretty much all about staying alive” Clint replied, pressing into his touch, deft fingers tracing the muscles on his arm and causing him to shiver involuntarily “I’m thinking about you right now if that helps”

He made a small noise of approval and nodded “It helps”

They fell into a comfortable silence, their hands tracing patterns on skin and their eyes never leaving one another and with the heat shared by their bodies and Clint’s breathing surrounding him, Tony drifted off without even realising it. 

Morning came quickly and it took a lot of mental effort to leave the bed instead of staying wrapped in strong arms, his nose buried in the crook of Clint’s neck. He yawned silently and minutely moved his head, jumping when Clint moved too and catching his gaze. 

“God you’re beautiful” Clint said softly when their gazes met, bringing him in by the neck and meeting his lips with a kiss “Morning by the way”

He grinned: giddy and filled to the brim with adoration – something he hadn’t felt in such a very long time – kissing his partner again before replying “How long were you just.. Laying there for?”

“Eh, I don’t know, I napped between waiting for you to wake up” Clint answered, swinging his legs out of bed and following with his body, wandering into the ensuite and Tony heard the sound of water running “What’s the plan?”

He had almost forgotten completely about Osborn and lay back down on the bed, facing the roof and tangling his legs into the sheets “Uh… I’d probably need to take a long look at where he’s getting the tech from – that information is here – and then… well then we’d stop the source and destroy everything he’s got”

“Gonna involve Parker? Because I’m not so sure anymore – given he’s using your tech” Clint questioned, voice echoing off the tiles of the bathroom and sounding over the hiss of water. 

He hummed “I don’t know – he’s good, but this?… no that’s rude – we need to keep him involved he brought my attention to it in the first place”

There was a long beat of silence and he listened to the water turn off and then the sound of a towel being taken from its rack “You’re too nice Tony – he could get hurt”

“So could I, so could you” he responded, taking in the flattering view of Clint in nothing but a towel, soaking wet, body shining as the sheen of water on his body reflected off sunlight.

“You’ve said it about a hundred times – he’s not ours to look after”

“He’s SHIELD’s” Tony admitted

“Exactly”

“But without him I wouldn’t have known about Osborn until yesterday” he argued, showering himself after a fight to get out of bed and move versus watching Clint dress “Without him I’d probably be at a loss by now”

“Without Deadpool I’d never have found out about the plot to kill the Avengers but do you see him on SHIELD or teaming up with me? No, he was convenient – a means to an end – like Parker is to you, he gave you a head-start which is great but now he’s a liability and you know he’s in over his head, _really_ over” Clint countered, and Tony had to admit it sounded reasonable and as he stepped out to get dressed he nearly ran into the taller man “I don’t, personally, want to risk him as well”

He sighed, knowing that in the end, as brutal as it was, Clint was right and Peter would get hurt and it would be best if they limited their numbers anyway “Well, what about you? You’re still injured and I don’t want to risk you either” he was only saying it for the sake of arguing and he felt a brief moment of triumph when Clint responded with a huff. 

“Stark” Clint began, and Tony knew that he meant business, told by the use of his last name “I’m older and more experienced than Parker, than you even, and I know my limits”

“Do you?” he asked, folding his arms over his clothed chest, feeling defensive and watching as the archer struggled to answer for a moment. 

“Yes I do and I know when I’m pushing them” 

Tony was amazed at his partner’s patience with him at this point: anyone else would have snapped by now and it was impressive for Clint: given his temper “Well, are you sure you’re not just being protective? I’m a grown up, I can take care of myself – I’ve been doing it for years”

“And look how well that’s turned out”

It was half scathing, half reasoning, and Tony froze, feeling his heart give a strong thud in reply to the words, watched the realisation cross Clint’s face and felt his heart resume its steady rhythm again when the archer sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“I know” he assured, his voice sounding quieter than he’d have liked, and he brought himself closer to his partner, touching his arm to pull the man’s gaze to him “It’s okay, I pushed”

“I just can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt… you’re the best thing in my life and goddammit if you died… everything would just stop Tony”

His breath caught and he smiled softly, swallowing the lump in his throat “You don’t think I just forget you’re always away somewhere dangerous? Come on Clint, we’re superheroes, we go through the worst and we come out the best… I’ll admit it took me a lot longer than it took you to figure out how to heal but that’s the thing we’ve both done it and we can do it again…… I love you, I really do, and it scares me like hell when you go out there alone but I let you because you’re _you_ and you’re doing what you love… how can I stop that?” he paused for breath and closed in on the archer, wrapping his arms around strong shoulders and pulling himself close “You’ve got to trust I’m going to come out of this the same way I’m going to go in”

Clint was silent for a long time and Tony was convinced he wasn’t going to speak, but soon enough his embrace was reciprocated and Clint sighed “You’re really good at proving me wrong… you know that, don’t you?”

He chuckled “It’s my specialty”

///

In the end he decided that this was something he would do alone, as he did most things, and regardless of the amount of people telling him otherwise, he was sure he was doing the right thing.

He had tracked the source of his stolen tech: an AIM base, and Clint had offered to head out and deal with that, and even though he’d gained a one on one with Osborn he couldn’t sway Hawkeye on taking on both the base and the villain on one day and so the archer was in Boston blowing things up while he was slipping into Osborn’s “secret lair” alone. 

Spiderman had understood, and contrast to his predictions, had graciously stepped down, stating he preferred to stop burglars and direct traffic anyway. 

“Okay Osborn” he said to himself “Hope you’re ready for this”

He wasn’t.

Not really. 

The Goblin was terrorising Times Square with his droids, causing more damage than what could be managed by the police and after a moment of debate, he directed his suits to create a perimeter and landed near the officer in charge. 

“Just focus on getting the civilians out of here – I’ll try to contain the damage and stop the Goblin” he said softly to the officer “Be careful – I don’t know if those droids have freedom of will or not – you might be attacked but I’ll do my best to prevent that”

The officer nodded, striding down to his forces and repeating the orders given and Tony nodded to himself, getting back up in the air and ramming into one droid, aiming a charged blast through its chest and shutting it down by removing its power source then moving to the next, using the same method effectively for several others and checking every so often that his suits were doing their jobs. He dove beneath two and swept in a neat half circle, firing at the pair and dodging a missile sent his way, blowing it up as it rounded on him and meeting Osborn in the middle of the skirmish. 

“Back again?” he asked rhetorically “Because I’m not in any sort of mood for this” 

“What? You want to schedule another appointment Tin Head?” the Green Goblin goaded, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“No” he replied evenly, folding his arms “I’m just not too keen on putting you down again – you have a family, revenge shouldn’t be on your mind right now – but in all honesty if this helps keep you out of trouble I’m not at all against knocking you around for ten minutes or so”

The Goblin chuckled “Come on then Stark – pummel me”

It was a bluff, it had to be, Osborn couldn’t be this prepared and after a cautious look around he noted that every droid under the villain’s influence was preoccupied with his suits. 

What did he have?

He didn’t have time to worry about it, and pushed it out of his mind, charging forward at Osborn…

… and hitting a building wall. 

He fell to the ground, catching himself before he could roll, and groaned when a splitting headache made itself known to him. The suit encasing him folded away into a pen and fell into his hand, and no matter how hard he pressed it refused to cooperate. 

He looked around and discovered he was on the outskirts of New York, and the building he’d run into was one of the many that had mysteriously vanished and he stared at it for the longest time. 

He cast his gaze away from the buildings and got into an area with an uninterrupted view and just to be sure, tried to activate the suit again.  
Osborn was long gone – no evidence of his destruction apparent – and the world was… calm. 

It felt wrong. 

“I’m going crazy” he said to himself, pressing a palm to his forehead and rubbing gently “I’ve been knocked out and this is a dream”

“Iron Man”

He turned to the voice and the hand on his head dropped to his side and he laughed out of disbelief. 

Kang the Conqueror.

“You’ve got to be kidding me”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's the end of this part of Foul Play, thanks for sticking with me this far - the next part is still in the works but I might be able to get the first chapter up soon. At the moment I've hit a wall but I'll get past it - anyway - thanks for the support it's been really helpful and motivating: I wouldn't have updated weekly if not for it!


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